Distribution: Widespread on Kor Sirok; Deep Gnomes are concentrated in the Underdark
Game Rules: Use standard Gnome ancestry rules; Deep Gnomes use standard Deep Gnome ancestry rules
Gnomes are a widespread people found across several continents and in both surface and subterranean societies. Surface gnome communities occur in cities, rural regions, forests, workshops, farming settlements, and many other environments. Their histories and cultures vary with the regions in which they live rather than tracing back to a single surviving homeland or political tradition.
Gnomes have participated in many of the same migrations, states, institutions, and religious traditions as the other widespread peoples of Kor Sirok. Familiar surface gnome lineages remain useful for ancestry and family history, but they do not require separate cultural treatment unless a particular region gives the distinction importance.
Deep Gnomes
Deep Gnomes descend from gnome populations that migrated into the Underdark in antiquity. Generations of separation in the deep world, together with its unusual geology, strong Fundamental influences, and the isolation created by the Spatial Break, produced a distinct branch of gnome ancestry adapted to subterranean life. Their origin is understood as the result of long settlement and adaptation rather than a single remembered transformation.
One known Deep Gnome settlement is Dulthapplas, located beneath Inis Olsang near Gultne in the Skyre Islands. Deep Gnomes also live outside dedicated subterranean settlements through migration, trade, exile, or movement to the surface. A prominent Deep Gnome in recent history is Abendigo, who lived as a mortal before becoming the god of time after the Harrowing.